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Almost a quarter of British firms are paying far lower taxes than the rates demanded by the countries in which they operate, an international study has suggested.

Analysis of more than 1,000 listed companies by MSCI found a tax gap of 56billion from firms using tax havens and loopholes to whittle down their bills.

By comparing the overall tax payments of the companies against the corporation tax rates levied in the countries where they did business, the investment research group was able to determine how many companies were scrimping on payments.

Tax loophole: Almost a quarter of British firms are paying far lower taxes than the rates demanded by the countries in which they operate, an international study has suggested

In the UK, 16 of the 71 included businesses had a tax gap of more than 10 per cent, it said.

MSCI director Linda-Eling Lee said these firms faced the prospect of falling profits if the tax loopholes were closed, as well as reputational risk if they are exposed for minimising tax.

The findings will inflame the debate around the issue of legal but dubious avoidance of tax.

The Government has sought to lead an international crackdown on what it sees as immoral tax dodging by multinational firms.

The nascent industry of bitcoin derivatives got a high-profile boost on Wednesday, as a London-based trading platform was launched by ex-employees of some of the world’s leading investment banks.

Crypto Facilities was set up by former bankers from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale.

The platform pitches itself as a broker which specializes in bitcoin derivatives, and trades financial products like options and futures which are directly linked to the price of the cryptocurrency. Thus, it allows users to “go long” and bet that the price of bitcoin will rise, or “go short” and bet the price will fall.

Timo Schlaefer, the co-founder and CEO, was previously the executive director of credit quantitative modeling at Goldman Sachs in London. Speaking to CNBC via telephone Wednesday, he said he had worked for the investment bank for ten years but left to create this brokerage firm.

“I really wanted to help this industry develop and bring the experience that I have,” he said.

Schlaefer added that he saw real potential in the technology behind bitcoin – the block chain – which is a publicly-distributed ledger system which makes sure all transactions are verified in a transparent, decentralized and secure fashion.

Crypto Facilities is officially regulated by the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority. However, the regulator only oversees the company’s traditional derivative operations, as there are not yet any official regulations on the digital currency in the country.

Like Schlaefer, the Bank of England has also said it sees huge potential for the technology behind the digital currency bitcoin.

BitcoinComments Off on MyCoin closes its doors, $387 million in investor funds vanishes

Mar092015

Summary:Bitcoin exchange MyCoin has vanished — leaving up to $387 million in investor funds unaccounted for.

Bitcoin exchange MyCoin has closed its doors, potentially leaving up to 3,000 investors out of pocket.

The closure of the Bitcoin exchange was originally reported by the South China Morning Post on Monday. MyCoin, a supposed Hong Kong-based virtual currency trading exchange, has reportedly closed its doors leaving as many as 3,000 local investors with combined losses of HK$3 billion ($387 million).

Bitcoin exchanges are no stranger to closures and controversy. The most famous example is that of Mt. Gox, once one of the dominant Bitcoin exchanges online. Tokyo-based Mt. Gox closed its doors without warning in February last year, filing for bankruptcy and leaving investors approximately $500 million out of pocket. The closure of Mt. Gox was followed by others struck by cyberattack, including Flexcoin, Poloniex and Bitcurex.

See also: Police suspect Mt. Gox Bitcoin theft was an inside job

However, MyCoin’s case may be different. Approximately 30 MyCoin clients are filing reports with local police that MyCoin was less of a Bitcoin exchange and more like a pyramid-style Ponzi scheme.

MyCoin customers were promised up to HK$1 million as a return on their money in four months for buying a HK$400,000 Bitcoin contract. The contract, which was meant to produce 90 bitcoins on maturity, also encouraged clients to lure others to the fold with new customer recruitment rewards such as extra profit, prizes and cars.

No customer was given written proof of their investment, and in December, MyCoin changed its trading rules — forbidding clients from withdrawing their virtual currency unless they recruited other customers.

One MyCoin client, who has lost HK$1.3 million ($168,000) in four Bitcoin contracts, told the publication:

Many of us dream of being able to walk away from work, supporting ourselves solely on income from our investment portfolios.

But what does that fantasy really mean?

The ideal arrangement would be to take as little risk as possible. We would live on only dividends and bond yields, without ever touching our capital.

To be sure, this dream could quickly turn into a nightmare if it required us to live on a pittance. Most of us would stipulate that we want at least as much annual income as the median Canadian family.

Given all that, what would freedom cost? Roughly $4.5-million, according to my calculations for the drum roll, please first ever Financial Independence Index.

The index is a toy Ive developed to answer the many readers who want to know when they can say good-bye to work without ever having to think about money again.

The good news and you may be happy to hear this is that the index is not designed as a realistic savings target for most families.

Think of it instead as an indicator of how financial conditions have shifted over the years and also as a demonstration of why most of us have to keep thinking about money and risk, even after we quit work.

The Financial Freedom Index owes a great debt to Scott Burns, a pioneer of personal finance journalism during his years at the Dallas Morning News. For years, hes compiled the Life of Riley Index, which puts a price tag on financial freedom for Americans.

The investors are among a group of Hong Kong and mainland individuals buying and exchanging the virtual currency bitcoins through Kryptogroup and its Hong Kong-registered transaction platform, mycoin.hk.

Under Kryptogroup’s system, bitcoin investors would sign “head contracts” with the group to buy 90 bitcoins at the beginning and accumulate 0.64 bitcoins a day for 12 months.

Their gains would multiply when they signed subcontracts, usually with appealing bonuses.

However, as Kryptogroup allegedly began changing the conditions on December 7 without issuing proper notices, some investors found themselves suddenly unable to invest in new subcontracts under the previous terms or exchange their bitcoins into Hong Kong dollars in accordance with the international market rate.

While the mycoin.hk website remains operational, its phone line is directed to voicemail, and its Tsim Sha Tsui office is closed for “internal renovation,” with the company name taken off the building’s directory.

An investor surnamed Chan, 81, said she tried contacting the four sales staff who approached her in the first place but to no avail. Many investors were introduced to the investment platform through professionals such as legal executives and property and insurance agents.

An investor surnamed Lau alleged she was tricked by her legal executive to join the platform as she recalled telling him she needed time to think about it, yet her bitcoin accounts were set up in just hours, without her official approval.

Lawmaker Leung Yiu-chung, who is helping the investors, said they were lured by the professional backgrounds of the sales team.

BitcoinComments Off on Southeast Asian Bitcoin Site Charged With Securities Fraud

Jan272015

A Southeast Asia-based bitcoin website was charged with securities fraud after 72 others like it were seized and shut down this month by Manhattans district attorney.

Bitcoinhyip.org and other companies registered to YouYou Finance were seized Jan. 16 after an investigation that began in July, District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said told an association of money-laundering specialists. An undercover agent e-mailed the site and was told he could not lose money in the investment, according to the complaint filed Monday in state court in Manhattan.

All you had to do, they said, was send them one bitcoin, and theyd send youthreebitcoins in return, within 48 hours, according to a copy of Vances speech. When our undercover investigator transferred a bitcoin to the operators bit-address, they kept it, and he never heard from them again.

The price of bitcoin has fallen almost 77 percent from its peak of $1,137 in November 2013 to about $267.

A federal case in Texas involving a $4.5 million Ponzi scheme was described by U.S. prosecutors in November as the first of its kind tied to bitcoins. Trendon Shavers, founder of Bitcoin Savings & Trust, raised at least 764,000 bitcoins by promising investors a return of as much as 3,641 percent, prosecutors have said. Instead, he used bitcoins from new investors to cover payments owed to earlier clients and paid for his own Las Vegas gambling and spa treatments, they said.

Vance has been an instrumental part of law enforcement investigations into money laundering at large banks including BNP Paribas SA (BNP) and Standard Chartered Plc. (STAN)

A year ago, Vance also testified at hearings convened in New York to discuss the regulation of bitcoins and other virtual currencies after the indictment of former Bitcoin Foundation Inc. Vice Chairman Charlie Shrem for money-laundering linked to Silk Road, a bitcoin-driven website allegedly used for buying drugs and other illicit goods. Shrem pleaded guilty and was sentenced in December to two years in prison.

Digital currencies have been linked to money laundering in the case of Liberty Reserve SA, described by the U.S. as a black-market bank that masked more than $6 billion in criminal proceeds. A manager pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy and operating an illegal money-remitting business, and seven people were charged by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in May 2013.

On Monday, San Francisco-based startup Coinbase Inc. started the first licensed U.S. bitcoin exchange. Backed by the New York Stock Exchange, Coinbase Exchange can be used in the 24 states that support USD Wallets, according to a press statement.

Other Coinbase investors include a subsidiary of USAA bank, the investment arm of Japanese telecom NTT DoCoMo and former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit. In total Coinbase has raised $106 million, the company said.

Although some small banks have tested cryptocurrencies similar to bitcoin, Coinbase’s current round of funding is the first large investment from major banks into the technology, Armstrong said.

Read More Bitcoin keeps falling, and worries keep rising

Despite the recent problems for the digital assetincluding a sliding price and a costly hacking incidentthese investors are doing more than chasing a passing fad, he said.

“They’re really excited about it as a technology, and these people are bitcoin believers,” Armstrong said. “They’re really interested in the potential that it has to make payments fast, cheap and global for everyone around the world.”

Some technologists distinguish bitcoin the currency from bitcoin the technologythe digital protocol could be used for a number of financial applications that could potentially involve fiat currencies.

Read More Forget currency, bitcoin’s tech is the revolution

Armstrong told CNBC that he did not anticipate any of Coinbase’s investors acquiring his company in the near future. “We want to stay as an independent company,” he said.

Armstrong emphasized that bitcoin’s exchange rate (which went from about $1,150 in 2013 to the current level of around $220) was not essential to the success of his company, or its investors. As a provider of bitcoin wallets and facilitator of payments, Coinbase is more reliant on trade volume than daily price, he said.

BitcoinComments Off on Finance firms placing bet on bitcoin, or are they?

Jan222015

Other Coinbase investors include a subsidiary of USAA bank, the investment arm of Japanese telecom NTT DoCoMo and former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit. In total Coinbase has raised $106 million, the company said.

Although some small banks have tested cryptocurrencies similar to bitcoin, Coinbase’s current round of funding is the first large investment from major banks into the technology, Armstrong said.

Read More Bitcoin keeps falling, and worries keep rising

Despite the recent problems for the digital assetincluding a sliding price and a costly hacking incidentthese investors are doing more than chasing a passing fad, he said.

“They’re really excited about it as a technology, and these people are bitcoin believers,” Armstrong said. “They’re really interested in the potential that it has to make payments fast, cheap and global for everyone around the world.”

Some technologists distinguish bitcoin the currency from bitcoin the technologythe digital protocol could be used for a number of financial applications that could potentially involve fiat currencies.

Read More Forget currency, bitcoin’s tech is the revolution

Armstrong told CNBC that he did not anticipate any of Coinbase’s investors acquiring his company in the near future. “We want to stay as an independent company,” he said.

Armstrong emphasized that bitcoin’s exchange rate (which went from about $1,150 in 2013 to the current level of around $220) was not essential to the success of his company, or its investors. As a provider of bitcoin wallets and facilitator of payments, Coinbase is more reliant on trade volume than daily price, he said.

LibertyComments Off on Liberty Global (LBTYB) Downgraded From Buy to Hold

Jan122015

Editor’s Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer or Stephanie Link. TheStreet Ratings quantitative algorithm evaluates over 4,300 stocks on a daily basis by 32 different data factors and assigns a unique buy, sell, or hold recommendation on each stock. Click here to learn more.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Liberty Global (LBTYB) has been downgraded by TheStreet Ratings from Buy to Hold with a ratings score of C+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

“We rate LIBERTY GLOBAL PLC (LBTYB) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed – some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its increase in stock price during the past year, compelling growth in net income and revenue growth. However, as a counter to these strengths, we find that the company has favored debt over equity in the management of its balance sheet.”

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How to double bitcoins [Double Now!]You Should try this! Site Link: http://bit.ly/1wkYTsv Earn 1 bitcoin by invest 0.5! Double your bitcoins! Warning: You can't double your investment every time, there is a small chance that…

BitcoinComments Off on Invest bitcoins and get double of your investment after 100 hours – Video

Jan062015

Invest bitcoins and get double of your investment after 100 hoursJoin the site here link:http://cryptodouble.com/?ref=Bkl4o This is a cryptocurrency investment site. The name of this site is cryptodouble. You can invest bitcoin. You can invest dogecoin….

LibertyComments Off on Liberty Property (LPT) Upgraded From Hold to Buy

Dec302014

Editor’s Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer or Stephanie Link. TheStreet Ratings quantitative algorithm evaluates over 4,300 stocks on a daily basis by 32 different data factors and assigns a unique buy, sell, or hold recommendation on each stock. Click here to learn more.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Liberty Property (LPT) has been upgraded by TheStreet Ratings from Hold to Buy with a ratings score of B-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

“We rate LIBERTY PROPERTY TRUST (LPT) a BUY. This is driven by some important positives, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company’s strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, increase in stock price during the past year, reasonable valuation levels, good cash flow from operations and expanding profit margins. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook.”

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Jim Cramer and Stephanie Link reveal their investment tactics while giving advanced notice before every trade.

You can now pick up some bitcoin with that bottle of soda and bag of chips at the store down the street.

LibertyX, a company that originally made and operated bitcoin vending kiosks, has expanded to let any store sell bitcoin for cash at the register, just like anything else they have in stock.

You hand over cash, you get a code, said Kyle Powers, co-founder of LibertyX, formerly known as Liberty Teller. A cashier gives the customer a pin number, which can be redeemed for bitcoin. LibertyX is working with 2,500 stores, mostly local businesses including convenience and computer stores, across the country in the obvious places Cambridge and San Francisco and some less obvious, such as Lowell and Missoula, Mont.

The move away from dedicated ATMs that sell bitcoin came from overwhelming demand, Powers said.

We had people driving for hours, Powers said. The whole thing was to reach areas that we couldnt otherwise.

The ATMs are still operational, including the one at South Station.

Were doing the same thing (as the ATMs), just cheaper, faster, more convenient, Powers said.

To help LibertyX expand, the company has raised a little more than $400,000 in private investment. Project 11, the venture capital firm headed by Katie Rae, Reed Sturtevant and Bob Mason, formerly of TechStars Boston, led the investment.

Powers said much has been made of bitcoins ups and downs, but he continues to have faith in the online currency.

Bitcoin is like gold, except the market is a thousand times younger he said. What were doing is a fundamental, foundational piece of the bitcoin ecosystem.

BitcoinComments Off on The Startup Meant to Reinvent What Bitcoin Can Do

Dec232014

A company given $21 million by leading Silicon Valley investors aims to extend Bitcoins functionality so it can power much more than just payments.

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman announced an unusual new investment late last month. He and other Silicon Valley luminaries, including Sun Microsystems founder Vinod Khosla, sunk $21 million into a company that may never have to make a profit to be successful.

That company is called Blockstream. Hoffman and others backed it in an effort to give a technological shot in the arm to Bitcoin, a digital currency built upon software that uses cryptographic transactions to prevent counterfeiting without the need for any central authority (see What Bitcoin Is and Why it Matters).

Blockstream is working on technology that will use the code that underpins Bitcoin to secure other kinds of assets, such as contracts or ownership of stock. The companys technology could also provide workarounds to shortcomings in the design of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin has come a long way since its obscure debut in 2009, and the 13.5 million bitcoins in circulation are worth $4.7 billion. But the currency has yet to become widely used, and Blockstreams founders and investors say significant technical improvements are needed for that to happen.

Blockstream will play a huge role in helping it maintain its momentum, Hoffman wrote in a blog post on his investment. He said that the company will operate in a similar way to Mozilla Corporation, which produces the Firefox Web browser and related technology but is owned by a nonprofit foundation. However, if Blockstream is successful in helping Bitcoin catch on, other Bitcoin companies that Hoffman and his fellow investors have backed stand to benefit.

Bitcoin startups have received hundreds of millions from investors in the past few years (see Bitcoin Hits the Big Time). But few resources have trickled down to support work on the core technology that makes Bitcoin work. Startups have focused on building products on top of Bitcoin, such as online payments services. It has fallen mostly to a band of unpaid coders to maintain the core technology that underpins how Bitcoin operates (see The Man Who Really Built Bitcoin).

That community has been unable to work on improvements to Bitcoins design, says Adam Back, a cryptographer and cofounder of Blockstream. Core development has been quite conservative and focused on security and stability, he says.

Blockstream wont be helping out with the core Bitcoin code, though. Instead it is building on top of it using what are known as sidechains.

At the heart of Bitcoins design is what is known as the blockchain, a digital file maintained by computers around the world that records every Bitcoin transaction. Bitcoins most novel feature is that everyone can trust the blockchains record, even if they dont trust every individual contributing to its upkeep or using Bitcoin.

Its that time of year again time to finalize the operating budget for 2015. In my corporate life, I found that marketing budgets were often the most “fluid” of all expense items. Thats a nice way of saying it was frequently the first place to cut.

I think I know why marketing and advertising are favorites among bean counters looking for places to “cut expenses.” It can be summed up in an often quoted statement: “Half our advertising works we just dont know which half.” In other words, its hard to quantify. That may have been the case, when ad dollars were primarily spent on newspapers, TV and radio. Fortunately, with internet marketing and Web analytics, that’s no longer the case.

The beauty of digital marketing is that you can easily and accurately measure the return on your marketing investment. The key is to measure this metric correctly.I may be a marketer, but Im also a numbers guy and a business owner. When I decide to make an investment, Im reasonably sure of the outcome. I trust that most successful business owners and managers function the same way.

Following is a formula, often used incorrectly, to measure return on Investment (ROI) for organic search:

Organic Search ROI Calculation Assuming “One Shots”

If your average customer only buys from you one time, this is a problem. However, most online retailers rely on repeat business, in order to flourish. Failure to calculate the lifetime value of a newly acquired client distorts the true ROI. The proper way to calculate ROI, when repeat customers are the norm, follows:

Organic Search ROI Calculation Assuming Lifetime Value

As you can see, one variable can make a HUGE difference in properly calculating ROI.

Magnate SEO, an Internet Marketing and SEO Services Provider based in Auckland, NZ is offering their Clients an unconditional Return on Investment if performance targets are not fulfilled.

“What differentiates Magnate SEO from other Auckland based Search Engine Optimisation Companies is our No results, No fee Guarantee. To stay competitive in the Internet Marketing industry I think it’s imperative to offer Clients a protection on their investment.” said Zane Lyall, Business Development Manager at Magnate SEO. “Our guarantee distinguishes our brand as reputable, trustworthy and reassures consumers that they will receive a Return on their Investment.”

Magnate SEO clients receive Analytical SERP report’s on an on-going basis, so they can visually measure the results of the Company’s applied SEO techniques. They brand themselves as an “Affordable SEO Company” encouraging smaller NZ Businesses to leverage Search Engine Optimisation techniques to compete successfully against some of the larger, more dominant businesses in their market niche.

“We understand that every Client has different goals and expectations and this is why we customize our SEO Services to provide the most benefit at a price they can afford. We have Monthly retainer based plans, but we also provide one-off Services. What’s important to us is that the SEO strategy we implement is in line with our Client’s Business goals. We continually review the outcomes of our SEO Process and re-strategize accordingly for optimal results.” stated Zane Lyall.

Magnate SEO provide a wide range of Search Engine Optimisation Services to Businesses in Auckland and throughout New Zealand aimed at improving Organic Page ranking for competitive keywords in the search engine results of Google and Bing. They help NZ businesses build an online presence by increasing their website visitors and optimising website content for improved search engine visibility.

“We provide a free, no-obligation consultation service for prospective clients where we answer questions and outline how we can provide an effective SEO Strategy tailored to achieving their business goals” stated Zane Lyall.

For more information on Magnate SEO Services and how they can help your business be found, visit them at: http://www.magnate.co.nz

NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Shares of Liberty Global (LBTYA) are slightly lower at $51.80 in pre-market trading after sources told Bloomberg that Vodafone Group (VOD) is considering a combination with John Malone’s companyto create a European phone, Internet and TV company valued at more than $130 billion.

The British phone company is holding internal deliberations and analyzing the financial and regulatory hurdles as well as investor support for a share-based transaction, the sources said.

No formal negotiations with Liberty are under way, there’s no guarantee a deal will be reached, and valuation and regulatory issues remain key obstacles, the sources added. In particular, Vodafone has concerns about the combined company’s debt levels and the reaction of its own investors to a deal, one source noted, Bloomberg reports.

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Investment trusts were traditionally set up and managed in the UK, but there is a significant number of investment companies domiciled offshore in the Channel Islands or elsewhere. Many are quoted on the London Stock Exchange, so it is sometimes difficult to tell them apart from onshore companies.

Many well-known UK firms run investment companies offshore, including Aberdeen, F&C, Henderson and Standard Life Investments; but there are also lesser-known and overseas providers such as CATCo Investment Management, Juridica Asset Management and Phaunos Boston.

There are now 116 offshore investment companies among the Association of Investment Companies’ (AIC) current membership of 399, making up 29 per cent of the association.

Some of the earliest ‘investment trust’ entities were formed as common law trusts, while others were structured as companies from the start. But the trusts soon converted to companies, which also had the advantage that they could borrow money. However, the term ‘investment trust company’ persisted.

Onshore companies also had to abide by a specific set of rules. By setting up offshore, investment companies have been able to take advantage of a different regime, which has proved more tax-efficient for some companies but has, more importantly, given them more flexibility on distribution of income.

When Henderson Far East Income moved from being an onshore to being an offshore company it said the main reason was ‘the Company will not be subject to UK corporation tax, which should significantly increase its net distributable income’.

However, according to Nathan Brown at stockbroker Numis Securities: ‘The primary reason is because offshore companies can pay their dividends from any source. They do not have to come out of income or realised profits.

‘They can, for example, be paid out of uninvested cash. In Guernsey, as long as a company is solvent, it can also return any amount of capital to shareholders. This means companies can be more confident of maintaining a steady flow of income.’

From an investor’s point of view, there is little difference between companies based on- and offshore according to Annabel Brodie-Smith, the AIC’s communications director. She says: ‘There are far more similarities than differences between UK investment trusts and offshore closed-ended investment companies.

‘They are all closed-ended, listed on a stock exchange, with an independent board of directors, and all have the freedom to gear to enhance returns, and all have similar investment flexibility; for example, they are able to invest in unlisted assets. From a corporate governance perspective, all have to report against the UK Corporate Governance Code.’